Warning: Wild and crazy idea ahead!
Draft Position
30 - Stanley Cup Winner
29-15 - Playoff qualifiers
14-9 - Missed playoffs, ranked league-wide according to points.
8-1 - Draft ranking single-elimination playoff (Occurs immediately after the end of the NHL regular season but before the Stanley Cup Playoffs - Should only take 6 days.)
Two worst teams in each division play each other.
Winners from Div A and Div B play each other, as do the winners from Div C and Div D. Winners from each conference play each other. Losers of conference final games play each other in consolation game. Ranked similar to Olympics (Winner of final game gets 1st overall, loser gets 2nd. Winner of consolation gets 3rd, loser gets 4th. Other 4 teams get seeded in 5th to 8th by points with lowest number getting 5th and so on.)